The First Day is coming

This is Little One after an intense body building session. No steroids were used to get this Incredible Hulk appearance.

The First Day...

The First Day is coming. It is not the first day of football season, not the first day of hunting season, not the first day of trout season, not even the first day of fall. What's coming is a day that makes you realize that age is creeping up on you like like a bulldozer stuck in low gear headed your way...like the first day of work and you understand that this will be your life for the next 40 years.

The day I'm talking about is the first day of school. This year will be our third experience with the first day of school. Little One will be 3 years old on Monday, 8/28. And after Labor Day, she will start in a preschool program. Its only 3 hours a day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but it will be a great big step for our family. Now, hopefully the Wife will be able to get a little time off from the stresses of parenthood.

Little One and The Wife have been together almost constantly for Little One's entire life! Sure Little One can be demanding, but on those few occasions she was away, she was missed, sorely missed.

For me this is the start of the long winding up hill road to teenagerland. And my very first experience with a teenage girl.

I often remind The Wife of when we were first married...living in Bristol, Tennessee...in a 2 bedroom apartment...no responsibilies...no mortgage...nothing but time on our hands after working all day at the Sperry Univac plant...being able to go to the mall on a moments notice!

Times changed.

Chow Time....

Can you smeeeelllll what The Rock is cookin'. The Rock, Action Movie Star and former WWE champion.

One of my favorite meals...hot dogs. I like hot dogs. I've tried a lot. Oscar Mayer, Ballpark, Nathan's, Valleydale, and even dogs at local high school sporting events. I believe it is very hard to screw up a hot dog. Most times I load em up....mustard, onion, chili, cole slaw, and sometimes shredded cheese. Or I've eat em plain...just a bun and dog.

What I have not done is eat them Yankee style, which is with sour kraut. Grilled bun or a bun right out of the pack. Its all good.

The other day I saw the hot dog eating contest at Coney Island. These folks would dip the bun in water to make it easier to eat....yuck. Soggy buns are a definite no-no.

We took a trip to Blacksburg Sunday evening. We grabbed a sub at Quiznoe's. We wanted to stop at Wal Mart to pick up a few items...bad idea. It looked like the post office at the first of the month when all the checks are delivered. In case you have not experienced it...that means it was crowded, very crowded. Left there and stopped at Kroger then onto TCBY. Yummy. Dutch Chocolate.

The summer happy time of no crowds is gone from Blacksburg. The kids have invaded like a swarm of locust. The take all the tables at the steak house, talk on their cell phones, step into the street without looking, and generally cause havoc and destruction. Trips will have to be highly coordinated until the spring. It was fun while it lasted.

Little One did want to be photographed touching a Hokie Bird. These things have sprung up like Pam Anderson honeymoon videos...they are everywhere. What your step, they may leave a big mess.

New Format...

I like the format of John and Glenn & Dianne so much that I decided to copy mimic impersonate IMITATE their writings.

We made another trip to West "by Gawd" Virginia this weekend. No one in West Virginia ever says that. I have no idea how it got started.

There were horses



And one pot-belly pig.

The horses were all very friendly. Little One got to ride 2 and even turned down another. The pig was kinda cool. Its belly drug the ground and it snorted made all sorts of strange noise. But it did let Little One and the Wife pet it. I did not pet it. I did think out loud about "man, that sure would make a lot of pork rinds." I was informed that these pigs do not taste good and do not make for good eatin'.

Gotta go...the still needs attention and I need to put in a wad of REDMAM.

Visit to West Virginia

Where have I been? My priorities were shifted for a while so I was unable to update my blog.

Most recently, I have been to West Virginia to visit family. I noticed that West Virginia has a new state slogan. Instead of "Wild Wonderful West Virginia", it is now "West Virginia Open For Business". That makes no sense. Does this mean that in the past, WV was closed for business...did not seek business...did not care about business? Now that the state is officially open, just watch the business roll in.


The brown horse (Champ) use to live near us in Pembroke. Little One enjoyed feeding him carrots regularly. But now he is shacking up with a new woman (Beauty) and her colt (Country). This could be a Jerry Springer show...Beauty was pregnant when she moved here. Champ is not the daddy. Champ moved in with Beauty so she would not be a single mother.

As you can see, this is probably half of the flat land in West Virginia, every where else is mountains. Actually they are hills, according to the state song, "West Virginia Hills", which goes like this:

Oh, the West Virginia hills! How majestic and how grand,
With their summits bathed in glory, Like our Prince Immanuel's Land!
Is it any wonder then, That my heart with rapture thrills,
As I stand once more with loved ones On those West Virginia hills?

Chorus

Oh, the hills, beautiful hills, How I love those West Virginia hills!
If o'er sea o'er land I roam, Still I'll think of happy home,
And my friends among the West Virginia hills.

Real mountains are found in Denali (aka McKinley)!





While visiting WV, Little One made good use of the pool. Photos of the bass boat, extra large tv dish, cars on cider blocks in the front yard, out house, squirrel tails on the car antenna, and sleeping coon dogs were off limits. Besides, I would not want to do anything to propogate the West Virginia stereotype. I gotta run now. I need to put in a dip and check the still.